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Devotionals

A Lesson on the Weather

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They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him.” Mark 4:41

Out on the lake after a busy day of learning from Jesus, the disciples learned a lesson no amount of lecturing or code-messaged parables could convey. They were in a storm, and their boat was sinking. Too bad they didn’t have one of the fishing boats available to them. It would have carried them through, but this smaller, narrower boat went off course at the smallest wave. And now a furious squall had come up. What was worse, Jesus lay fast asleep, oblivious, as it appeared to the disciples, to everything going on around him.

Caught off guard, the disciples scrambled to pitch water out of the boat. But their efforts were of no use. The boat was going down. They were going with it. Drowned. Finished with the sensational work they shared with Jesus after barely getting started.

In a panic, they woke the Teacher up and scolded him for his lack of concern. “Don’t you care if we drown?” they demand of him.

With three words, Jesus brought the raging storm to complete calm. “Quiet. Be still.” The same words are used here in the original language as the words Jesus will soon speak to the evil tormenting the man in the region of the Gerasenes. Jesus muzzles, or gags, the storm. His words to the weather shut it down. All in a day’s work for a Messiah. I can imagine Jesus brushing his hands together as if to rid them of dirt and then turning to fluff up his cushion like the episode was hardly worth the exertion. Back to sleep he may have gone, if not for a band of terrified men huddled and shaking.

“Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Jesus asked them. His words likely carried a greater scolding than the one they had given him.

I’m right here, Jesus says in his questions. Just because I was sleeping doesn’t mean I lost any power.

The lesson the disciples are learning is the very one of faith. Either Jesus was the Son or God as he and the prophets claimed him to be, or he wasn’t. The evidence was too strong, too obvious, for him to be anyone but the promised Savior.

And here they were, crowded into a boat with him living through the adventure of their very own relationship with Him. The scene ends unresolved. Jesus leaves the decision up to them of who He really is.

Jesus calms storms. He chokes out evil. He heals chronic disease. He raises the dead. No one is more powerful than Him.

An unforgettable lesson.

My son, Mark, is a meteorology student at Iowa State. He loves this time of year with the high dew points, unstable atmosphere, and all kinds of other conditions weathermen have official terms for. He is forever looking for a good storm. Then he can go chase it in the hopes of witnessing a sensational display of power either in thunderheads or hail, or the ultimate prize, a tornado. No better training exists for the aspiring weatherman than to be out in the storm watching it, photographing it, marveling at its power. A student of the forces of nature, he is learning lessons that will shape him as he pursues his education and someday his career as he becomes the seasoned, tried and true weatherman.

As students of Jesus, are we learning lessons that will shape us? Do we know where to look for displays of God’s power? Do we run away terrified, or do we chase after Him hoping to see more, to learn more, to become more?

God leaves the answer up to us. Either He is God, totally capable of calming our storms and healing our lives and souls, or He isn’t. We get to decide, and the choice we make defines who He is to us for all time.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, I confess fear and unbelief. I want to have more faith in you, in your concern for me, and in your uncontested power. Be the Lord of my life whom I may always look to in the storm. Amen.

Devotions for the Church Year

Rising With Jesus

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“If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place I am going.” John 14:2-3

Today marks the fortieth day after the resurrection of Jesus. In those forty days following his rising back to life, Jesus stayed on earth. In the words of Luke, “After his suffering, he presented himself to them (the apostles) and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3).

When those forty days were over, Jesus took his disciples to the Mount of Olives and, right before their eyes, his feet left the ground as Jesus rose higher and higher into the sky. The book of Acts reports quite thoroughly on this event, including both the wonder of Jesus’ ascension and the humor of the disciples’ response. Verse 9 says, “He was taken up before their eyes and a cloud hid him from their sight.” And then, in verse 10, we see the disciples’ reaction. “They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going.”

I can imagine eleven men clustered on the hillside shielding their squinting eyes from the brilliant sunlight with their mouths all hanging open. Speechless. Marveled. Maybe even a little bit disappointed.

While they were still staring at the sky, two men dressed in white stood with them and asked why they were looking into the sky. “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). The angelic message rings with the same confidence and celebration as the one delivered on that quiet Easter Sunday morning in the garden. “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here. He has risen! Remember how he told you …” (Luke 24:5-6).

I wonder if the angels at the tomb that morning are the same ones present with the disciples when Jesus ascends to heaven. In a way, their message is bittersweet. It says to the disciples that life won’t be the same as it was before Jesus died and rose again. And now, forty days later, another change has come. Life for sure will never be the same again now that Jesus has left them.

This time of year, just days before Pentecost, I like to ponder this scene from the viewpoint of one of the disciples, especially Peter. Jesus had declared him a rock, the foundation on which the new church would get built. But Peter stands here staring into an empty sky as clueless as the rest of them.

After the angels appeared, Acts reports that the apostles returned to Jerusalem. The trip back to town has the same feel as the intervening time after Jesus’ death until Peter recognizes him on the shore one morning while out fishing. Well, OK. So that was that, Peter must have thought. He may have returned to Jerusalem a bit let down, like a runner with high hopes for setting a record who ended up finishing last.

Acts doesn’t say which disciple asks the question, but it doesn’t surprise me if Peter was one of them who blurted out, “Lord, at this time are you going to restore the kingdom of Israel?”

Behind the question we can hear the exasperation. The disciples left their jobs, followed Jesus through thick and thin, put up with political tensions, and suffered the agony of watching their Teacher and leader endure torture. So now that he’d come back to life and proven he was the real deal, maybe he’d finally get down to serious business and accomplish what the Jews had been waiting on for hundreds of years.

Wrong. Again. They’d asked before, but like this time, Jesus doesn’t answer the question. Instead he poses one of his own with the words, “It’s not for you to know.” Trust me, Jesus asks of them. Believe in God the Father and his power and authority. That is what really matters.

So now Peter is left behind with nothing but questions floating on the wind. He’d heard the angels. He’d seen the miracles. He’d had his feet washed. And now Jesus is gone.

The verse quoted at the beginning of this devotional was spoken by Jesus on the night of the Last Supper. During that meal, Jesus had modeled servant leadership, spoken of betrayal, promised the Holy Spirit, and comforted the disciples with the promise that he would prepare a place for them and then come back to take them with him to his Father’s eternal home.

I wonder if in those moments following Jesus’ ascension Peter remembered the day at the tomb of Lazarus, or the walk to Jairus’ house, or Mary Magdalene’s outrageous story. Jesus’ ascension was the crown and climax of his resurrected life. A whole new dimension of vitality and power awaited him in the place where he was going.

Those words from the Last Supper may have made Peter’s list of memories that day. If Jesus was going to heaven, and when he got there would begin work on a place for Peter, then that meant Peter would join Jesus there ruling and serving, loving and praising, in perfect health and perfect unity forever.

Peter’s promise is our promise. Jesus is already at work preparing a place for us. He is someone like us, a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, able to empathize with our weaknesses, as Hebrews 4 says, pleading our cause in the presence of his Father in heaven. He will send his Spirit to us on earth so that in his power, we make the goal of our lives the things above where Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand.[1]

Because of Jesus’ ascension, we have a new home.

Because of Jesus’ ascension, we have an audience with the King of Heaven.

Because of Jesus’ ascension, we have the power to look beyond our earthly circumstances.

Because of Jesus’ ascension, the things of heaven are ours. As Paul encourages in Colossians 3, let’s set our minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Prayer

Almighty God, whose only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven: May our hearts and minds also there ascend, and with him continually dwell. King of glory, do not leave us comfortless, but send your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.[2]

[1] Heidelberg Catechism question #49.

[2] Collects from the Book of Common Prayer for Ascension Day and the Sunday following.

Devotionals

Sun and Shield

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For the Lord is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. Lord Almighty, blessed is the one who trusts in you. Psalm 84:11-12

These verses come at the end of a song with the theme of peace. It is a love song, really. Sung not to a human sweetheart, but to the Lord himself. This song celebrates God’s presence, His home, His willingness to bless, and His strength.

David, the composer of this love song, is weak with longing for the courts of the Lord. “Oh, if I could just be like the sparrow, living in a nest built in the eaves of the building,” his heart cries. Or if he could be like the priests who live and work in the house of God, he would finally find satisfaction for his deepest desires. These people have the privilege of staying in the place where God lives. They never have to leave. They get to spend their days in unbroken communion with God, adoring Him and praising Him forever.

David longs for the house of God because then he can always be with God. This is what he wants most. His envy of the priests pushes him so far as to say the lowest, most unimportant job of doorkeeper at the temple would be better than fame and plush luxuries shared with sin.

If he could get near enough to God, then one day in that place would bring him more joy than one thousand days spent anywhere else.

We can hear the fainting, the deep passion of David’s heart, quite appropriate for the most fervent of love songs.

The person who loves God this much receives great blessing from Him. David recognizes this, and compares these blessings to the sun and to a shield.

The sun gives light, offering revelation of the warmth of God’s character, illuminating the best direction for us to follow. A shield protects and defends. In battle, it comes between the soldier and danger blocking the flaming arrows of the enemy. Ephesians chapter 6 uses the image of a shield to describe faith. It helps us stand firm, strengthening us to wait, fortifying us against the powers of darkness and forces of evil. Anyone hidden behind the armor of God is safe, even when the sounds of ammunition surround us. The shield of God offers relief.

Behind this shield, in the light of His presence, we find favor and honor. The poetic style of the Psalm implies that the person standing in God’s light and under his protection receives these things from Him. God not only rescues us from danger, He gives us a special place with Him. He provides dignity and purpose, meaningful work and a good name.

The Psalm goes on to promise that no good thing does God withhold from those whose walk is blameless. What are these good things? They are love, wisdom, patience, steadfast hearts, power, sound minds, close relationship with God, and living forever.

That one word “blameless” is intimidating. There is no way any of us can reach the end of a day without committing some act or saying some hurtful word that is offensive to God. But we have to remember that we are covered by the blood of Jesus. Salvation is both sun and shield, ever shining the light of Christ in our hearts, always covering us from the destruction of sin. Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord Almighty.

Do you want to keep receiving ever increasing amounts of blessing? Learn to love God as much as David. Be intentional about worshipping Him. Find the songs and the Scriptures that help you adore Him and praise Him.

Confessing our sin is also an act of worship. Sometimes we don’t even know when we’ve done wrong to God or to others. Ask for wisdom, one of God’s “good things,” to help you grow more aware of your emotions and of how you come across to others.

Keep on thanking Him as you recognize the increase in your life. By confession and gratitude, we free up more space in our souls for God until we become people who ourselves are living in greater freedom and looking more and more like Him.

Prayer

Lord, I want to love like David loves. I want to worship only you as Lord and King of my life. Cover me with your love and your holiness. Help me walk in the light of your goodness. Amen.

Devotionals

Mountains, Tightropes, Night Security Guards, and Sleeping Babies

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I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you—the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. Psalm 121

When I read this Psalm, the items mentioned in the title are the images that come to mind. So often, life feels precarious. Circumstances we didn’t ask for or didn’t see coming can, in effect, pull the carpet right out from under us, and reveal not a solid floor to stand on, but thin air. How do we ever find solid footing in places that offer no stability, but are instead full of turbulence, shifting sands, or mere vapors of broken promises and disappointed expectations?

Life has a way of leading us to believe that we are going crazy. We’ve all seen the pictures of the insane person attempting to walk the tightrope over the roaring and surging Niagara Falls. “I would never do a foolish thing like that. Too risky,” we say to ourselves. And then, overnight, the world can change, and we are left looking out across a vast expanse of nothing. “How do I survive now?” we wonder.

Psalm 121 tells us to look to the mountain. We must lift up our eyes and place them on the unmovable mountain that is higher than us. Our help will come from there. The mountain is the Lord. He is the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip. In those places and at those times when nothing but a flimsy little thread stretches out before us as the only path anywhere to follow, the Lord not only makes each step secure, he builds the road for us to walk on. One small section at a time. Just wide enough to support our next step.

The Psalm goes on to say that he who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

Israel was God’s chosen. The man Jacob, renamed to Israel, and the entire nation that grew from his family line, enjoyed God’s favor. They act as a picture to us as the value God places on his children. They are his treasure, his safe full of money, his vault full of jewels. This sort of wealth isn’t treated casually. Rather, it is guarded day and night. While everyone else is sleeping, God is awake, attentive and alert to any potential danger. He is on the job all the time, better than the most experienced security guard stationed at the door of the wealthiest business in the biggest city.

Because God guards our lives so vigilantly, we can rest in him completely. Psalm 131 uses the image of a weaned child, a baby, with its mother. Verse 2 says, “I have calmed and quieted myself. I am like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child, I am content.”

The Lord keeps you from all harm.

He watches over your life.

He watches over you now, in the present, throughout the rest of your life into the future, and even after you die into eternity.

Nothing can snatch you away from his care, and even the most dangerous and precarious situations work for your good.  

Devotionals

God Wins Wars

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God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1

This psalm has always struck me as rather audacious. It makes claims that make me want to sit back and respond with a bit of doubt or skepticism. Does God really do all the things this psalm claims, and if he does, then how do I know, and where can I see it happening?

The psalm starts out talking of the worst events that could possibly happen. Mountains falling. Seas roaring and roaming. It looks like a picture of absolute destruction, of the kind that would follow the overthrow of a government, the disintegration of a nation, the ruin of entire families and cultures, or in our case, a deadly plague. The image is scary, unsettling, and leaves a person feeling small and powerless in the face of so much turmoil and disaster.

 But the psalm makes really bold claims, as if the most terrible situations act as a point of reference for the power of God. Mountains are falling into the sea, you say? Well let me show you how much larger God is, the psalm boasts. The waters roar and foam? They are harmless. They only serve to prove God’s greater strength. Because while turmoil, chaos, and destruction abounds, all God has to do is speak.

When he lifts his voice, the earth melts. No force can stand against him. He is a fortress, a refuge, the exalted King. He is nearer to us than danger, more present to us than friends or family. He lives within. He upholds and strengthens so that we, like the city mentioned in verse 4, will not fall. God will help her. God will help us.

After making these statements, the psalm gloats over one last campaign of its hero. Come and see what the Lord has done, it invites. Look how thoroughly he defeated the enemy. He makes wars cease. He breaks bows, shatters spears, and burns shields. He rules the nations for his people’s good. The destroyer he destroys. The desolator he desolates.

Evil and sin, disease and death are dealt with once and for all. God is King. He is a sovereign ruler, holy warrior, and the obvious champion. We can find our refuge in him.  

Devotionals

Strength in Joy

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Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10

The much anticipated day had arrived after long preparation. Nehemiah had been back in Jerusalem for several months making repairs and restoring the government. People moved back home to inhabit the lands and houses of their ancestors after spending several decades as foreigners in Babylon. Finally the day came to assemble in the square to hear Ezra the priest read the precious words of God as recorded by Moses in the Book of the Law.

Ezra opened the book and praised the Lord, the great God. All the people lifted their hands and responded, “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. (Nehemiah 8:5-6).

But as the day progressed and the meaning of the words sank in, the people began to weep. How far they had strayed from these beautiful words of truth. Could they ever return to the harmonious way of life suggested in these commandments that welcomed the habitation of a holy God among them?

Then Nehemiah the governor spoke up. He told the people to celebrate, to share, and to find joy in the Lord. The joy is where their strength would come from. The joy would restore their souls and invite God’s presence among them.

In his book, Nearing Home, Billy Graham writes about the headline of an article that appeared in 2010 on a Tokyo website titled, “A robot suit that gives super strength to the elderly.” Included with the article was a picture of the power suit modeled not by a senior adult but by an athletic youth. The caption stated that the heavy-duty suit weighs sixty-six pounds and will be originally priced at 1 million yen (approximately $12,000). Billy writes that he asked himself, “How many people my age (he was 93 at the time) have the strength to carry around sixty-six pounds for an hour, much less all day, and who could possibly afford such an expense? He says that he was relieved that the article indicated that there were no plans to sell the suits overseas. Billy writes that he is content struggling to get his shoes on each morning.

Billy went on to say that he had to look carefully at the article to discern just how an exoskeleton suit made of metal and plastic could give any strength. The secret was not in the suit but in the eight electric motors and sensors responding to commands through a voice-recognition system, enabling the body to lift and bend without strain to the muscles. While this futuristic invention may never be seen in our department stores, the brainstorming behind it reveals man’s desire for strength and power beyond himself.

Nehemiah had a better idea for finding that strength beyond ourselves. Instead of wearing a heavy suit that costs too much money and relies on motors and sensors, why not look to the Lord for power?

He encourages the people to do this on the day of the reading of the Law. His words are, “This day is holy to the Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” The day of the reading of the Law was an occasion on which the people were especially to recall God’s past acts of grace and salvation. It deserved celebration, not because of the circumstances the people were in of remembering the wrongs of the past or rebuilding a destroyed hometown, but because of who God was. He gave them protection. He kept his promises. He stayed faithful.

God’s abundance and blessing are the source of true and lasting joy. Nehemiah encouraged the people to rejoice in him, to praise him, and to depend on him. We must do the same. This is the secret to keeping that flame of contentment and pleasure in who God is alive in our hearts.

Joy is a glorious, unending circle. We recognize our needs and weaknesses and look to God. He supplies graciously and generously until his provisions fill our lives and overflow into the lives of others. We can rest in his strength. He helps us when we are weak. He promises to uphold us, to strengthen and protect us.

Praise be to the Lord, for he has heard my cry for mercy. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him. Psalm 28:6-7

Of a Woman in Ministry

Michelle’s Favorite Reads

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A year has passed since I blogged about books, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been reading. Between working on marketing my own books and dealing with the sudden changes imposed on us due to the virus outbreak, I’ve been delayed in pulling this list together. Since many of us, like myself, are probably spending more time at home, this blog may be timely if you are looking for good resources and books to read.

Since we are currently in the season of Lent, I want to mention my favorite Lenten read. It is a book by Michael Card titled, A Violent Grace. The pastor of the church my husband and I attended when our boys were small preached a sermon series on this book and encouraged the congregation to read it. I purchased a copy, fell in love with it, and have used it as part of my Lenten devotions ever since.

I like this book because it is small, based completely on Scripture, and thought provoking. I love how Michael Card can focus in and get right to the point on deep, sound doctrine while also telling a story. This book is also illustrated with sketches that bring to life the agonies, the tensions, and the love Christ felt as he experienced the events of Holy Week.

Please, pick up a copy of this book and use it for your own devotional times and reflections to make the Lenten season more meaningful and life changing.

This book is published by Multnomah Publishers, Inc. with a copyright of 2000.

My next favorite read is the book, Including People with Disabilities in Faith Communities by Erik W. Carter. This is a well written book for church staff, lay leaders, and families to use in helping the person in their life with disabilities serve the body of Christ. It is a bit of an academic read, but includes checklists for assessments as well as sample forms for use to develop relationships and ministries within the congregation. I heard Erik Carter via live stream when he presented in the January Series at Calvin College. This helped me become acquainted with him as an advocate for disability ministry. Since then, our community has relied on the work reflected in this book for further ministry to people with disabilities.

This book is published by Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company with a copyright of 2007.

Canoeing the Mountains has to be my all time favorite book on leadership. As a history buff, I appreciate the clever metaphor Tod Bolsinger makes between the expedition of Louis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery as they were sent to explore the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase in the early 1800’s. This concept is where the book got its name. The premise of the book is the idea that Louis and Clark expected to be able to find a water route that would lead them all the way to the Pacific Ocean, but instead, they encountered the Rocky Mountains. Oars didn’t work in the mountains pressing them to adjust their tactics, just like, “in every field, every business, every organization, leaders are rapidly coming to the awareness that the world in front of us is radically different from everything behind us…we now have to use every bit of what we know and become true learners who are ready to adapt to whatever comes before us” (p. 27).

Tod Bolsinger came to the town where I live and was the guest speaker for the leadership alliance hosted by a local corporation last fall. He is just as good, if not better, in person as he is on paper. I fully enjoyed learning from him as a student for a day as we sat in chairs around tables in a large, machine shed sort of atmosphere transitioned into a conference room.

If you would like a timely book on how to do creative leadership that is effective and stable, make sure to check out this book.

This book is published by InterVarsity Press with a copyright of 2015.

Lastly, over the winter, I’ve been spending time with the classics of Grace Livingston Hill. She was the forerunner of the Christian Historical Fiction so many of us enjoy today. She lived during the early 1900’s, and wrote stories about people during World War I, the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, and World War II. Considered contemporary fiction during her lifetime, these books are now invaluable resources of historical fiction to authors like me who write stories set in the early 20th century.

Grace writes with a definitive Calvinist, Presbyterian world view as far as doctrine is concerned. I personally appreciate this perspective as my writing echoes this same slant on theology. I am both amused and enlightened as I discover her opinions on flappers in comparison to what she felt a wholesome, godly woman should be.

The images in this section are the covers to three of my favorites. These books are in the Love Endures series. This is a series of these classic books with updated covers by Barbour Publishing.

Devotions for the Church Year

The Fifth Sunday in Lent

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The season of Lent is a time to do some cleaning of our hearts. Life in the world and in our sinful flesh creates a build-up over time of actions, attitudes, and desires that need eliminated. The lent season is a gift to us of space to reflect on the ways we displease God and to acknowledge our need of a Savior. Awareness of these two truths leads us to do the cleansing work of confession so that our hearts are ready to receive the new life that comes through Christ’s resurrection.

When we clean out a closet in our houses, we get rid of the clothes that don’t fit any more. We throw away anything useless. We rearrange what is left. This work is done to create space for the new. Our spiritual lives function the same way. We admit where we are wrong. We give to God the places that are hurt. We get rid of the useless habits that weight us down. When we’ve done this work in confession and repentance, our hearts are clean and ready to replace the sinful with the new and the eternal.

If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old is gone and the new is here (2 Corinthians 5:17). This verse tells of new strength. New power. New insight. New life. All of these come after a period of confession.

Lent is an important time of growth, and we must do our best to let it have its way with us. Over the next forty days, how will you clean house in your soul? What are some attitudes or habits that you need to get rid of? Below is an order of prayers and Scripture you can use as you spend time in confession and repentance.

Call to Prayer

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Prayer of Confession

God of compassion, in Jesus Christ you did not disdain the company of sinners but welcomed them with love. Look upon us in mercy, we pray. Our sins are more than we can bear; our pasts enslave us; our misdeeds are beyond correcting. Forgive the wrongs we cannot undo; free us from a past we cannot change; heal what we can no longer fix. Grace our lives with your love and turn the tears of our past into the joys of new life with you. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.  

Venite

O come, let us sing unto the Lord; let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and show ourselves glad in him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods. In his hand are all the depths of the earth, and the heights of the hills are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands prepared the dry land. O come, let us worship and fall down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker. For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

Today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tested me, and put me to the proof, though they had seen my works. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation and said, “It is a people that err in their hearts, for they have not known my ways,” Of whom I swore in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

Psalm: Psalm 130

Gloria Patri

Glory be to the Father, and to the son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen

Scripture Readings

Old Testament:  Ezekiel 37:1-14

New Testament: Romans 6:15-23

Gospel: John 11:1-44

Benedictus es, Domine

Glory to you, Lord God of our fathers; you are worthy of praise, glory to you.

Glory to you for the radiance of your holy Name; we will praise you and highly exalt you forever.

Glory to you in the splendor of your temple; on the throne of your majesty, glory to you.

Glory to you, seated between the Cherubim; we will praise you and highly exalt you forever.

Glory to you, beholding the depth; in the high vault of heaven, glory to you.

Glory to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; we will praise you and highly exalt you forever.

Intercession

For Those Who Suffer

Lord of all health, You are the source of our life and the fulfillment in our death. Now give comfort in the midst of pain. Strength to transform weakness, and light to brighten darkness. Through Christ our Lord, Amen

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your Name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen

Collect

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners. Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of this world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Benediction

May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sources

The Book of Common Prayer. (Huntington Beach, CA: Anglican Liturgy Press, 2019).

The Worship Sourcebook. (Kalamazoo, MI: Faith Alive Christian Resources, 2004).

Worship the Lord, The Liturgy of the Reformed Church in America. (Reformed Church Press, 2005).

Devotions for the Church Year

The Fourth Sunday in Lent

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The season of Lent is a time to do some cleaning of our hearts. Life in the world and in our sinful flesh creates a build-up over time of actions, attitudes, and desires that need eliminated. The lent season is a gift to us of space to reflect on the ways we displease God and to acknowledge our need of a Savior. Awareness of these two truths leads us to do the cleansing work of confession so that our hearts are ready to receive the new life that comes through Christ’s resurrection.

When we clean out a closet in our houses, we get rid of the clothes that don’t fit any more. We throw away anything useless. We rearrange what is left. This work is done to create space for the new. Our spiritual lives function the same way. We admit where we are wrong. We give to God the places that are hurt. We get rid of the useless habits that weight us down. When we’ve done this work in confession and repentance, our hearts are clean and ready to replace the sinful with the new and the eternal.

If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old is gone and the new is here (2 Corinthians 5:17). This verse tells of new strength. New power. New insight. New life. All of these come after a period of confession.

Lent is an important time of growth, and we must do our best to let it have its way with us. Over the next forty days, how will you clean house in your soul? What are some attitudes or habits that you need to get rid of? Below is an order of prayers and Scripture you can use as you spend time in confession and repentance.

Call to Prayer

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Prayer of Confession

Jesus the Christ, you refused to turn stones into bread. Save us from using our power, however little, to satisfy the demands of selfishness in the face of the greater needs of others.

Jesus the Christ, you refused to leap from the temple top. Save us from displaying our skills, however modest, to win instant popularity in the face of nobler calls on our abilities.

Jesus the Christ, you refused to bend the knee to a false god. Save us from offering our devotion, however weak, to cheap or easy religion in the face of the harder path on which you bid us to follow you.

Jesus the Christ, give us wisdom to discern evil, and in the face of all that is deceptively attractive help us to choose the will of God. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.  

Venite

O come, let us sing unto the Lord; let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and show ourselves glad in him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods. In his hand are all the depths of the earth, and the heights of the hills are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands prepared the dry land. O come, let us worship and fall down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker. For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

Today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tested me, and put me to the proof, though they had seen my works. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation and said, “It is a people that err in their hearts, for they have not known my ways,” Of whom I swore in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

Psalm: Psalm 23

Gloria Patri

Glory be to the Father, and to the son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen

Scripture Readings

Old Testament:  I Samuel 16:1-13

New Testament: Ephesians 5:1-14

Gospel: John 9:1-41

Benedictus es, Domine

Glory to you, Lord God of our fathers; you are worthy of praise, glory to you.

Glory to you for the radiance of your holy Name; we will praise you and highly exalt you forever.

Glory to you in the splendor of your temple; on the throne of your majesty, glory to you.

Glory to you, seated between the Cherubim; we will praise you and highly exalt you forever.

Glory to you, beholding the depth; in the high vault of heaven, glory to you.

Glory to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; we will praise you and highly exalt you forever.

Intercession

For Those Who Suffer

Lord of all health, You are the source of our life and the fulfillment in our death. Now give comfort in the midst of pain. Strength to transform weakness, and light to brighten darkness. Through Christ our Lord, Amen

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your Name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen

Collect

Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world, give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Benediction

May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sources

The Book of Common Prayer. (Huntington Beach, CA: Anglican Liturgy Press, 2019).

The Worship Sourcebook. (Kalamazoo, MI: Faith Alive Christian Resources, 2004).

Worship the Lord, The Liturgy of the Reformed Church in America. (Reformed Church Press, 2005).

Devotionals

Shelter and Shield

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Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.” Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, or the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him. I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.” Psalm 91:1-6; 14-16

I’ve been trying my best to avoid writing a devotional on the topic of the Coronavirus just because I’ve witnessed some overreaction to the threat and I didn’t want to risk adding to the fears. Neither did anything I was coming up with to say seem fitting. Scripture can start to sound trite in moments of crisis, and since I wanted to make sure and offer only helpful words in my weekly devotionals, I was intending to stay the course and focus only on Lent.

But the situation is changing quickly and affecting us right here at home with the cancellation of our church services, the closing of our schools, and the careful health screening taking place in the organization where I work. The time has come to interrupt our meditation on Lent and focus on the situation facing us.

Psalm 91 makes bold promises. It says God will cover, deliver, protect, answer, rescue, honor, and show salvation. This is a pretty exhaustive list. It affirms and builds on what we learned about God in Psalm 103. He is a good Father, attentive to his children and always at work on their behalf.

One of the reasons I chose Psalm 91 as the Scripture for this crisis-themed devotional is because of the use of the word pestilence. This is what we are dealing with in the spread of destructive disease. Verse 3 says he will deliver from the deadly pestilence. It is mentioned again in verse 6. The psalm says we will not fear the terror of night or the arrows that fly by day or the pestilence that stalks in darkness or the plague that destroys at midday.

This seems a rather outrageous thing to say. Anyone can get sick. Anyone can get shot down by a flying arrow of destruction. When disease seems to be everywhere and spreading out of control, who are we to claim any degree of safety and protection from it?

Look at the Psalm a little closer. It is written to a certain group of people. That group includes those who live in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, and who find refuge in God. These are the ones who are assured, as verse 15 states, that God will be with them in trouble.

If we look further, we discover that there is one more phrase on which all the deliverance and all the protection depends. It is in verse 4: His faithfulness is a shield and rampart. There it is. We can take refuge in God and trust in him because his faithfulness shields us. The verse uses the word rampart together with the word shield. A rampart is an elevated mound of land with a fortress built on it for the purpose of defense. God is our shield, and he is our defense. He is faithful. We can rest and be at peace behind these layers of protection.

If you are wondering today how to make sure you are living in the shelter of the Most High, and want to continue to remain in his shadow, here are some ways to enter in for the first time, or to stay in that place and not wander away from God’s care:

Spend time reading the psalms. If you are like me, this book of poetry has been bred into you from a young age through song and prayer. I find that the words that surface in times of anxiety are words from the Psalms. If you are new to the Psalms, it is never too late to learn to love them and find comfort in them. Here are some Psalms to consider reading over the next weeks: Psalm 23, Psalm 46, Psalm 84, Psalm 91, and Psalm 103.

Practice generosity. Find ways to share, to support others, and to give away. Those who find refuge in God are rich in so many ways that a frightened, anxious world needs. We can be examples of strength and peace, the very things so many others are searching for.

Continue with the Lenten practices of confession and prayer. This opens up greater capacity in our lives to trust God more deeply.

His faithfulness shields you. It sustains you in times of trouble, and it gives you a safe place to rest.

Prayer

Eternal God, your Son is the healer of our sickness. We pray for those who are ill or who are passing through difficult times, that they know the love of friends to support them. May we all live in the power of Christ that sustains us. Amen.